Luxury Giant LVMH Buys Top Spanish Winery

Numanthia-Termes, which helped put Spain's Toro region on the world wine map with its high-end cuvées Termanthia and Numanthia, has been sold to luxury-goods giant Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH). The purchase price was not disclosed.

"LVMH has been trying to buy the bodega for several years," said Jose Manuel Azofra, commercial director for the Eguren family, which established Numanthia-Termes in 1998. "The sale will help us move forward on other projects we have been working on."

According to Azofra, the sale includes the winery, inventory and about 40 hectares of vineyards, including the 1-hectare Termanthia vineyard, which produces the bodega's flagship wine. Termanthia debuted in 2000 and never scored below 90 points, including 96 points for the most recent vintage, 2004 ($201, 350 cases produced). The bodega also produces the midrange Numanthia (the 2004 scored 95, $57) and the value cuvée Termes (the 2004 scored 92, $26). Winemaker Marcos Eguren has agreed to stay on for two more vintages, Azofra said.

The Eguren family, led by general manager Miguel Angel Eguren and his brother Marcos, established Numanthia-Termes. The family comes from Rioja, where they own Bodegas Sierra Cantabria, Señorio de San Vicente and Vinedos de Páganos. Azofra said they intended to use the proceeds from the sale to refurbish Sierra Cantabria and on a new project in Toro, where a new winery was completed in 2007 just a few hundred meters from Numanthia-Termes.

LVMH did not respond to requests for comment.

"When the Egurens founded Numanthia, there were only seven bodegas in Toro," Azofra said. "Now there are nearly 50. That LVMH is interested is a sign of how far this region has come in a very short time."